Third Friday Fling & More

By Deborrah Adams

Entrance to the new YSAC home on Xenia Ave. Photo By: Susan Gartner

It’s August, which means those back to school symbols, like yellow buses and lunchboxes, will soon be reappearing. Why not make this an extra sweet Third Friday Fling in the Springs? In addition to the regular lineup there are several special events and openings to check out.

At the Antioch Amphitheater, 795 Corry St., the productionAll-Male Oedipus Rex, a collaboration of Faux-Real Theatre and the Nonstop Institute, will open a three night run starting Friday, August 20 at 6 p.m. with repeat shows on Saturday and Sunday evenings.

Incorporating techniques of the ancient Greeks like brightly colored wigs, evocative masks and more, the company aspires to bring a traditional rendition of Sophocles’ tale to the stage striving to look beyond the “fate versus free will” theme to discover what is terrifying and vital in this most tragic of tragedies.

The cast of 14 combines local Yellow Springs actors with Faux-Real Theatre ensemble members from New York. Principal players include Jamie Carrillo (Oedipus Rex), Tony Naumovski (Jocasta) and Scott Lucy (Creon). Tickets can be purchased for a suggested donation of $15. For reservations or information contact the company by e-mail at fauxrealtheatre@aol.com or call (917) 687-4998.

At the new Yellow Springs Art Council (YSAC) Gallery, 309 Xenia Ave., People, Places & Things, an exhibition of four outstanding artists and craftsmen from the Dayton and Cincinnati area, curated by YSAC committee member Jessica (JH) Roller, will open with a reception on August 20 from 6 to 9 p.m. The mixed media exhibition includes: paintings by Patrick Mauk, a painter, printmaker and Dayton Visual Arts Center gallery manager; photographs by Matt Vant, featuring urban images taken in Cincinnati, Poland, Germany and other locations; a display of ceramic boxes by John Mason, a Cincinnati artist and president of the Cincinnati Clay Alliance; and a display of vintage dress designs by Dayton artist Tracy McElfresh. Regular gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, August 21 and Saturday, September 11. For more information, send an e-mail to jessica@jessicamakesart.com.

Artist and potter Geno Luketic will be opening an exhibition of his paintings, pottery, and sculpture at “Would You, Could You” In a Frame, 113 Corry St. There will be a reception August 20 from 6 to 9 p.m. In addition, the Village Artisans Cooperative, 100 Corry St., will present an exhibition of abstract art in an opening reception on August 20. Co-op members Sue Brezine and Leah Gromman will be displaying several of their 2-D works, mostly paintings, in the lobby.

This month, Emporium Wines, 233 Xenia Ave., will be accepting donations for Del Pueblo, Inc., during its Third Friday Wine-tasting. Del Pueblo, Inc. is a nonprofit organization that seeks to support and connect Spanish-speaking people in Clark and neighboring counties. Also, be sure to check out Krista Magaw’s multimedia exhibition featuring shrines and icons from every day life titled Prayers from Ohio: Stories of Healing and Place that continues through Thursday,
September 30.

Don’t forget that many businesses and eateries in Yellow Springs are open until 9 p.m. or later for special Third Friday browsing and shopping. Pay a visit to Brother Bear’s Coffee Open Mic night, the live music on the patio at the Corner Cone, the craft beer demonstration at the Main Squeeze, or maybe a movie at the Little Art. As always, the evening winds down with live late night music at Peach’s Grill.

COWVIN’S CORNY MAZE

The approach of fall brings seasonal activities and on Saturday, August 28, it will be opening day for Cowvin’s Corny Maze at Young’s Jersey Dairy. The maze, which boasts over a mile of trails in three acres of cornfield, will be open weather-permitting on Saturdays and Sundays through October 24 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day.

Admission is $5 per person age 5 and older, 4 and under are free, and children 11 and under must be accompanied by an adult. For group discounts call (937) 325-0629, or e-mail cows@youngsdairy.com. Young’s Jersey Dairy is located at 6880 Springfield-Xenia Rd just north of Yellow Springs.

BABY BOOMER’S YOGA

On Sunday, August 29, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Joyce Appell, RYT, will teach a Baby Boomers’ Yoga workshop in the Yoga Springs Studio, 108 Dayton St. The class, held on the second floor, will cover “principles of practice, 15 gentle, safe asanas including user-friendly flows and modification poses for common aches and pains.” The cost is $35 per person. To register call the Yoga Springs Studio at (937) 767-9300 or visit online at
www.YogaSprings.com.

Music For The Soul

A Preview Of The AACW Blues Fest And Other Items

By Lara Donnelly

AACW BLUES FEST

Wild Women Event ( info below )

In just a few weeks, the village of
Yellow Springs will be filled with blues and jazz aficionados and musicians of every stripe. The annual AACW Blues Fest is on its way, and the signs are up all over town. On Friday, September 10 and Saturday, September 11 from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m., Antioch Amphitheater, 795 Corry St., will be filled with music and dancing not to mention the scents of barbecue smoke and fruit cobbler.

The AACW (African American Cross-Cultural Works) has spearheaded the Blues Fest since 1997. Faith Patterson, the founder of the event, attended a blues festival in Oregon, and yearned to start a similar festival in her hometown. She didn’t want to solely create a music festival, but a cultural festival as well that showed how music has evolved. To that end, the AACW Blues Fest contains a gospel element. A Gospel Festival begins Wednesday, September 8
at the Central Chapel A.M.E. Church, 411 S. High St.

While the AACW is known far and wide for its annual blues extravaganza, Patterson is very clear that AACW does far more than just the blues festival. “AACW does not equal Blues Fest,” she says. “We do stuff all year,” including a Kwanzaa celebration in the winter. According to Patterson, the goal of the AACW is cross-cultural education. “The more we know about each other, the more we can live in harmony,” she says.

An interesting and entertaining
extension of this idea is present during the Blues Fest. The Innovation Stage is a smaller venue directly outside the Antioch Amphitheater with performances overseen by Karen Patterson, Faith’s daughter. “It’s an invitation to artists all across the board, bringing them together to create performances that have never been on that stage before.”

When an artist takes the Innovation Stage, they are paired with another artist, and given 45 minutes to create a new piece. On the Innovation Stage, you might see a belly dancer and a beat poet performing together or a sketch artist intertwine with an experimental jazz band.

“It’s not a jam session or open mic,” says Karen Patterson. “It’s a situation that challenges artists.”

On September 11 at 2 p.m., make sure to check out what’s happening on the Innovation Stage. Several of the artists who have collaborated there have gone on to work together permanently, and it’s unlikely you will see anything like this
anywhere else.

Still, the Innovation Stage is just one part of the festival. Friday and Saturday night, the Amphitheater stage is going to be packed with blues players. On Friday, Karen Patterson, who is not only an organizer for the Blues Fest but an accomplished cellist, will be backed by the 5 YZmen, musicians from MUSON school of music in Nigeria. Bill Lumpkins, Jerry Green, Nerak Roth Patterson, and Andrew Junior Boy, among others, will play on Saturday night.

The AACW requests a $15 donation to get into the Amphitheater, but there’s plenty to do outside its walls. Food vendors of every stripe will serve falling-off-the-bone barbecue, carnival food like deep fried pickles, homemade cobbler, lemon shake-ups and more. Artists selling jewelry and crafts will be out in force, and many community organizations will have information tables set up.

Make sure not to miss the AACW Blues Fest. The music is good and the company is great too. “This is AACW and it’s about us and who we are,” says Faith Patterson. Who we are, it turns out, is a crowd of people having a blast. “Those of us who know what we know,” says Patterson, “know that we have always celebrated cross culturally, together.”

For more information, send an e-mail to info@aacw.org or visit online at www.AACW.org.

THE EARTH RESPONDS

Nature-themed oil paintings by Jennifer Haack will be on exhibit in the Glen Helen Nature Preserve’s Atrium Gallery during this month’s Third Friday Fling. It is the first time Haack has had a show at the Atrium Gallery, but it couldn’t have come at a better time. The Glen has just completed several workshops on forest gardening, and there has been a lot of traffic through the Atrium. She says she’s gotten lots of
positive responses.

Of her art, Haack says, “it’s an imaginative interpretation of nature, not necessarily representational.” Her process uses thinned oil paint, dripped onto a canvas on the floor into abstract patterns, which she sometimes leaves as they are, or works into an image. “Sometimes I know ahead of time what I’m going to paint, and sometimes the images just appear to me.”

Haack’s artwork will be shown, and for sale, through the end of the month. The Glen Helen building is situated on the edge of the Glen itself, so visitors can enjoy shady hiking trails after feasting their eyes on Haack’s paintings. Glen Helen is located at 405 Corry St.

YELLOW SPRINGS
BOOK FAIR

The Yellow Springs Book Fair, slated for Saturday, August 21, has been a staple in town for the last three decades, starting out in King’s Yard and moving onto the playground of Mills Lawn Elementary School, 200 S. Walnut St. There’s no charge for selling books, and certainly no charge for looking. The wares range from 25 cent novels to rare
collectors items.

Thatcher Cleveland of SuperFly Comics and Games promises a heaven for comic book lovers: “We’ll have a table with some of our back issue comics, some graphic novels, all marked down.” SuperFly is sponsoring the event, along with Dark Star Books. Dark Star will also have a table, and will be selling novels for a quarter. Dark Star owner Mary Alice Wilson says that among the vendors expected at the fair are Grave Matters, a Cincinnati dealer specializing in mysteries, and Xenia’s Blue
Jacket Books.

The Book Fair set up begins at 7 a.m. The browsing and buying commences at 8 a.m. and continues until 4 p.m. The Book Fair happens rain or shine, so there’s no excuse to
miss it.

For more information, call Dark Star Books at (937) 767-9400 or Super-Fly Comics and Games at
(937) 767-1445.

WILD WOMEN EVENT

Getaways for Women, a business created by Yellow Springs resident Nancy Mellon, is offering the Wild Women Event on Saturday, August 21. The event, which will be held indoors and outdoors throughout various locations in Yellow Springs, includes activities such as a Jackson Pollock painting spree, a spa sampler and mhendi body art.

Mellon started Getaways for Women to help women visiting Yellow Springs connect with local businesses they might not have found on their own. She says her mental image of a wild woman is someone “anywhere between their 20s and their 60s or 70s.” She says that being a wild woman has less to do with your age or your actions, but more your willingness to aim for new experiences. “It’s a state of mind, that you’re willing to try things and
have fun.”

Prices range from $20-$70. Pre-registration is necessary. For more information or to sign up, visit online at www.GetawaysForWomen.com.